India is all set to surpass the population of China by 2027. Huge migration in India is a reason.
Rising popln = implementation of SDGs might be hindered & growth rate may also not be uniform.
Popln growth is not uniform — lower section is having much higher TFR (3.1) compared to rich urban (1.5) — worry
Another issue unemployment. We hardly give jobs to 10% of the job seekers in formal sector.
To take Indian economy upto $5 trillion by 2024= huge investment → healthcare and education sectors.
Gender Dimensions — empower women to take her decisions regarding reproductive health and no. of children.
Youth wants to haver lesser children. Family planning is gaining importance in upper section.
Demographic dividend can very easily become Demographic Disaster, if we raise an ‘useless’ class of people as burden. This becomes more serious when the MMR and WMR is coming down together with increase in longevity.
Countries like China and Japan are managing their population even at older age through running various programs.
Women Education is the panacea and the only major long term sustainable solution —MHRD is running various scheme
Challenges
Question rises as how you train youth people? How to decrease the dropout rates in the colleges?
How to make people come on same page with family planning despite religious believes and social customs?
The Chinese model is a flawed one, we cannot replicate it.
Government aiming to make 140 smart cities is not enough we should focus on the whole states.
Way Forward
Work at the State Level — India is growing differently in diff regions — one-solution for all won’t work.
Government should find as to why different states are growing differently in terms of population? Why the quality of the living of people in South Indian states are much better than compared to North India states?
Eduction — the best contraceptive pill
It should also focus on Women Education, workforce and more developmental skills
